


A Gray Zero

by Vrash



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, ゼロの使い魔 | Zero no Tsukaima | The Familiar of Zero, ロード・エルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 - 三田誠 | Lord El-Melloi II Case Files - Sanda Makoto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:21:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26978023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vrash/pseuds/Vrash
Summary: Gray from Lord El Melloi II gets summoned by Louise and believing her to be an Albionesse Noble they start an adventure that will show them all of the sides of Halkegenia, the Bad and the Good, perhaps they will even know the secrets of the "Holy Founder of Halkegenia" and uncover the secrets that he left behind.
Kudos: 4





	1. A summoning

**Author's Note:**

> Thank You all for choosing this Fanfic, please comment review or whatever that you can do to make me know my errors and the good points of this fic, any criticism is apreciated and taken in consideration, cross posted on Fanfiction. net

I was in the apartment of my teacher, nothing really strange there since i needed to go there to wake him up, something that was starting to become more and more common, now that I think about it, me having to wake up my 29 years old teacher. Anyway as I was offering him tea I started to think in what was he hiding inside of that box that he was holding, normally the only thing that he is able to find at all in his room were his videogames, even then he was guarding this box as if his life depended on it and hasn't separated from the box in all the morning. Once he was with his usual clothes and bathed He told me, “Gray, do you know what is inside this box?” as easy as I breathed i answered him with a “No”, is not that I did not care about their contents, but I simply did not know.

“Then think”, he said, well, the box has the size of a shoes box, it is also made out of wood, it seems carved and it has two emblems… I think i recognize those emblems, “A gift from Edelfelt and Reines?” it has their emblems there so there is no other solution, my teacher had a face as if a train has just run over him and he just noticed, then he made a cough and said “It is also a gift from me, to you” it was said as if he was ashamed of the act, i was stunned “A gift… Why? I am not even a good student, I keep failing miserably in almost every class” I said a little alarmed and with a sense of guilt in my neck, he answered in a voice that was uncommon for him, “We wanted to give you a gift for being able to take care of me in battle” I was, stunned, my teacher offered me the box with his hands and i took it.

The Box was made of a truly fine wood, and i thought that the edelfelt were only knowledgeable about Gem-Magecraft, even I can sense the magic radiating from this box, I opened it and inside was a “A Necklace?” I said surprised, it was full of jewels and it was so precious, I could not believe that it was for me “Not only that but it is a Mystic Code made by us 3” “I… don't know what to say teacher” he only smiled and said in the most happy voice I have ever heard him “You don't have to say a thing”.

My happiness could not last, as was expected since the world does not seems to like me, a green portal started to swallow me without an alert, instinctively I grabbed the closer thing to me which was the gift that my Teacher gave to me and the world went white.

My name is Louise Françoise de La Valliere, a mage from the Noble House of Valliere, to say that I am nervous is putting it lightly, I have yet to have a recomforting sleep since at the very least a month. The Springtime Summoning Ritual, a Ritual where everyone in the second year of school summons a Familiar to serve them, by definition a Familiar is “A summoned Creature or Animal that serves as a second Body of its Summoner which has the shape of its Soul” this also means that whatever is summoned by you is a direct representation of you, Noble people would get something in the lines of a Lion and Violent people a Manticore (Not that i could gather the courage to ever say that to my Mother).

There is also a second catch, it is said that only mages and animals possess a soul with shape, if I fail to summon anything it means that my soul has no shape, that means that I am being that is less than an animal, a commoner. 

It is obvious that I have no intention of failing this particular task, I searched for EVERYTHING, from the newest to the oldest books and scrolls, the ones in the school and the ones in the family librarie, I even got the ones from the forbidden section, afterall it was not that hard to find the password for the entrance to the forbidden section, I even used the connections that my family has in the castle to get more books in the matter, regrettably I got punished for that, HARDLY, I have yet to recover from those burns and cuts but I think that I deserve them, afterall if I was an even half decent mage I would not need them, but alas I am a failure, one that is not even able to say with confidence that she will succeed in the Springtime Summoning Ritual. But, that will not stop me, I WILL NOT FAIL.

To say that Louise was acting strange was an understatement, she was late to class. That NEVER happened before, we were all shocked and even a bit worried, she was already acting strange since she returned to the academy at the start of the year and she had that “Cursed” feeling that only served to make us suspicious that something happened, I even stopped teasing her so that she could start trusting me, I even sent a few people and servants to ask her what was happening but they returned with no information, the best I got was what one of my fellow germanians told me, “She is cursed, that much is certain” he specializes in curses and is my childhood friend, well, was.

Whatever, when I went to wake up Louise I found why she did not wake up in the morning to find, wait for it, Potions and Alcohol, I was unable to identify the Potions, and with the only male that I am willing to bribe and is able to recognize the potion without asking questions being my childhood friend and he being unbribable I have no way of finding out what those Potions were, the Alcohol was another matter, I could easily identify Vallerian Wine, she took close to 10 Bottles and a few were even broken in the floor, I could not believe it, anyway I woke up Louise but she did not answer why there were so many bottles, she forced me to go away saying that she would be ready for when it was her moment to summon her familiar.

When she finally came she was moving stiff, and not only that but she lacked any form of the usual elegance that she usually has, I tried I really tried to ignore it but I asked nonetheless she only said “You are imagining things Kirche” NO I am not. 

And here we are, she is going to summon a Familiar and I have no idea what is wrong with her. 

“My beautiful familiar, Oh guardian of Lore, I implore you, Come to ME”.

It goes without saying that the result was an explosion, but, this time Something was inside the cloud of dust, it was a girl, she was probably of our age and had a hood and a general appearance that was rather grimm, with a grey dress hidden behind a black coat with an “¡Its that an Emblem?!” one of my classmates shouted but I could not reprimand him in the slightest, first of all I have never cared about others that I do not know and second I was an instant from shouting the same thing. 

Surprising all of us the moment the -Probably a Noble- girl started speaking, in Albionnesse no less, she said “Who are, all of you?” and after looking the place where she appeared she followed with an “Where am I?” that was more for herself than for us. Surprising all of us again the one who answered was Louise and not only that but in the happiest voice I have ever heard her speak (Now that I think about it, Have I ever heard Louise happy?) “You are in the Halkegenian School of Magic, and We are the students of the second year in the School” the Grimm one looked shocked and answered with longing in her voice “I see, then tell me, How can I return to where I was?”

The place was silent, obviously the Girl would have liked to return to her house instead of serving me, that much was obvious. Professor Colbert (A bald man with tanned skin and deep blue robes) walked to her, he walked sure of himself but without arrogance, you could say that it was the way of walking of a general or a seasoned warrior, which he was by the way but little to no people in the school knew that, I can say with certainty that only I, the staff, Kirche and Tabitha knew that he was a warrior, I knew from what my mother told me about him, Kirche has digged too much about him to not get an idea of who he is and Tabitha should recognize a fellow warrior. 

“There is no way to return” his voice is one that resounds with Authority and Power, the Grimm one looked, sad, and then her eyes flashed with a certain anger that made my classmates flinch, I did not flinch, I have seen worse, far worse, but the Grimm One did not appear to care, obviously scaring us was not her objective and it was only a side effect.

To say that I was furious was an understatement, anger, such a feeling is unusual in me, even when I was fighting I rarely was angered, and even now my anger did not last, I calmed myself and started thinking, I need help, I really needed help to return to the clock tower, knowing that I tried to go for the steps that my teacher and reines taught me, first, in front of an enemy magus never show weakness, it is a necessary step, otherwise they will know how to take advantage of you, and if they know how to take an advantage they WILL take it, for that I only needed to not show an emotion, not even arrogance or security, that would mean that they can take advantage of a surprise attack, my killing intent is not good enough to intimidate so I showed an expression of total neutrality, Reines has helped me in doing that the week before, it seemed to work as everyone but the older magus seemed surprised, then I noticed another thing, they seemed to Fear me, that was strange, from what I could gather (The castle pureness of the air and the robes of the older man) i was in another time which meant that it was the fault of the Blue or the Kaleidoscope, that was strange, is not usual for the blue to do things like this and the kaleidoscope was in another continent, that makes it so that it was the fault of another entity, I heard what the man in the robes told me, but I did not flinch, this could be an accidental use of second magic or maybe even another thing entirely, i have to go back to the clock tower, that IS MY objective, then I said evenly with a clear and calm voice “Then WHO will take responsibility? I need a place where to sleep while I search how to go back to my family” I made myself clear or at least I hope I did, again it was the man in robes to answer me “The one to summon you will be the one to take care of you, now miss as it’s tradition you and your master will be treated as the same entity so I find myself in the need of asking yourself if you posses a Familiar so that you may do the necessary rite” I am in a really dire situation a familiar is only treated as the same entity as the master in a few families that specialize in summoning and familiar bonding something really uncommon, this means that since it is a widespread enough rite and tradition to be taken as common knowledge and obligation that means that I am not in another time, I am in another reality, at least I find myself in a magic school so I can try to learn, I tell the professor “I was not prepared to summon my familiar yet” my voice firm and crystal clear, the professor gave me a gentle smile and told me “Any incantation will suffice as long as you have a clear image of what you want and you have your focusi with yourself” his voice was gentle nothing similar to the firm voice that he spoke before, it seems that I am no longer classified as a threat, those are rather good news.

I took a few steps away from the circle and started reciting an incantation initially I thought of using a modified Servant summoning incantation made by my teacher and a few close friends and people of confiance that Reines and Lorelei were able to make it so they would help, but it is too risky, instead I thought of summoning anything really as long as it is not an Heroic Spirit. Then something in my mind clicked, why would I summon something that I have no guarantee will obey me if I can MAKE something, my ability as a magus is subpar at best and even a year after the holy grail war I find myself unable to do most of the spells so that option is out of the window, I trust in my luck and try to summon anything with an improvised incantation.

“Come to me, thou who guards the souls of the dead, thou who guards the living, so is my WILL”

I did not expect this to work, in fact if anyone were to look at my legs they will see that they are trembling, my dress was able to hide that fact but none the less I had FEAR, knowing next to nothing of the place were I was and at the same time knowing just the right information to know that I had to do things right, I am scared, but I just did the summoning, not out of bravery, but out of desperation. 

And it worked, in a flash of blinding light something appeared, It had the shape of a black cat but I could feel that something was wrong with it, it looked similar to the cat that my teacher had a fight with, but it was obvious that it was different, its eyes were of a different color and for a fact the cat that my teacher fighted with, and try to save from dying, was dead, I could recognize that something was different, the cat was not an undead but it was obvious that it was not a cat, I had heard about the nekomata but they as yokai are demonic entities, no, she is something similar to an encapsulated storm, I did not know why did I know that but I just Knew It. 

With a new found confidence in my supernatural cat, I turned to the other magus, I could see that there were other common animals and a fake dragon there so my cat should suffice, the man in the robes asked me “Well, could you please introduce yourself to the class?” His smile was as gentle as it could be and for a moment I forgot the authority which he had when he first talked to me, I answered, “My name is Gray, Gray El Melloi”.


	2. Halkegenia

El Melloi?, I have never heard even a similar surname, well she came here speaking in Albionesse so she probably comes from Albion, but her attire is, strange, I have never met a noble that liked looking so grim, that is deserved for the commoners, so, why use such a grimm attire?, she is not doing any kind of secret mission since she has an emblem in her coat, maybe she likes being intimidating? or is she imitating some kind of strange saint that I am not aware of?.

The Grimm one, no, Gray looked to her cat in an strange fashion, as if believing that it would jump at her, and honestly, I am intrigued, everyone in class did an investigation about familiars and what they represent, afterall IT IS a SACRED RITE that dates to the time of the founder so I am pretty sure that I did the necessary research, a cat symbolizes a guardian, not a wolf kind of guardian but a someone that protects you from yourself, it was said that it was a cat one of the animals that guided Brimir in his search for magic, they are really rare and valued familiars, nearly every pope had a cat as a familiar, Louise, what are you hiding?, first how you acted this few weeks of class and know a summoning a Noble and that Noble a Cat, there is something that I have yet to discover.

Gray looked at us with curiosity, maybe she was tutored by her parents and is just that she is not accustomed to being in multitudes? that is not that unusual, it happens in relatively often in Germania and Gallia where there is no national school of magic, but Albion does have one, well whatever, she is just probably curious about the uniform, afterall it is quite simple for a uniform for the most prestigious magical school, afterall it is only a skirt or pants along with a white shirt that can be customized, pretty simple considering all the money required to enter.

Colbert started speaking again, “Well class, all of you with the exception of Miss Valliere are dismissed for the rest of the day” well whatever I better go away, it's not like I would be able to sneak past his familiar, whatever her familiar is. 

Yes yes yes yes, I DID IT, this is it, the proof that I am not a plebeian, I AM a TRUE NOBLE, there is nothing that mother will be ashamed of, and while my familiar is probably an Albionnese Noble I do not think that she would like to return to Albion with the Civil War that is happening. Now i look at Colbert, he is examining my familiar from head to toe, she looks unnaturally neutral, with a dead pan that is unnatural for anyone her age, even then she is a Noble, and considering that she summoned a cat it was to be expected that she would be at the very least wary of us, after all if you cannot even trust in you then you cannot trust in others and the masters of cat familiars tend to have doubts in themselves. Gray said to our teacher “Is there a problem?” she looked uncomfortable, Colbert looked sheepishly for a moment and said “Oh no there is no problem just an old habit” Gray seemed to understand and asked “What do you need of us now?” straight to the point but whatever “Oh, I just needed to ask you about your affinities in magic, I am preoccupied about Louise grades so I wanted to ask about your magic so I could make a better schedule” It seems that my grades were able to take the worry of Colbert, at least now that I have a familiar means that I know where to focus my research and so I will probably be able to do a spell. 

Shit, What the hell am I supposed to tell her?, I am for a long shot the worst mage in my class, do I say that I have problems with magic? Or am I meant to say my affinities? What kind of thaumaturgy do they even use? Before I could respond Colbert looked at me and said “We can assume that you magical abilities are not the greatest so I only need your affinity”

Well, here goes nothing, “My affinity is Earth though I tend to specialize in combat rather than research” yeah, best excuse of the year, I am so dead but whatever, the I assume teacher looks me with a sad look and says “If I was you I won't become a knight, it is not as glamorous as it seems but with how the times are I suppose that there are no other options” with an audible sigh he said “Oh, and my name is Colbert, I should have presented myself before but I have never been one to follow protocols” If that was a lie it was a pretty obvious one, but anyway, my summoner looks at me, this whole time I almost forgot that they were speaking in french, a rather strange french but french anyway.

I start talking to her “I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de la Vallière, I will now nd the ritual so don't move” she looks at me with the same deadpan, but there was a speck of fear for a brief instant, nearly unnoticeable but there nonetheless, I say

Locked in the Earth

Someday free by Him

We will Protect them

Because we are Mighty

Forever one

“Blessed by the Holy Pentagon”

So did Brimir Say

With a kiss in her forehead the runes start to print themselves in her hand, unnoticeable due to the fingerless gloves that she has if it was not for the glow that they emit, Gray only looked perplexed, good, I don't want her to be harmed by the runes since they are said to be able to emit pain when engraved, a few of the other familiars were harmed by the runes but thankfully they are the minority. A few seconds of her staring at her hand later she said “What am I supposed to do now?” Now more happy I answer “We bond, since you are clearly in the smart specter of familiars we are supposed to start talking between us or something of the like” she nods at me and says “Could you start? I am not the sociable type” yeah I noticed only by looking at your attire. 

I start by walking and saying “Well come with me, and about me, I am the youngest of the Valliere, and probably will be since none of my sisters seem to be able to find a husband” I could see the start of a smile when I told her that “It’s ok, you can laugh at that as long as you don't do it in front of my sisters” She is still a little worried but did a smile, not a truly comfortable smile but a smile.

I am, perplexed, it seems that this ritual holds some significance to the people of the land and they assumed me to be part of the place, which seems to be the reason to their good treatment for me, I seem to only need to talk to this girl for now, my summoner Louise, I say to her “Well, I suppose it’s my turn, my teacher is a total disaster and he will probably die single despite all of the girls throwing themselves at him, probably due to the age gap” Louise looks at me surprised and with an expression of being completely lost “How old is your teacher?” Shit, they seem medieval, of course they would marry their girls young “Twenty something I suppose” She seems to be thinking it and then laughs, it was a genuine laugh as strange as it seemed to me in the moment “Poor boy, let me guess, all of the widows launch themselves to him right?” she was little less than grinning but she still was looking respectable, then she said something “Hey, did you do the pact with your Familiar?” Now I am royally screwed, I already forgot the chant “Well if you want we can go to my room to repass the chant so you do not fail” That, was not what I expected.

I nod at her and we enter the castle, I never noticed how spacey this place is but when going up the tower I really noticed it, the walls are sturdy and even the towers seem made from some extrange mana repulsive material, the courtyard is really big, we finally enter the room of my summoner.

It is, messy, to say the least, wine bottles lay broken on the floor and there are books open and thrown in the bed, and oh, more bottles in the floor but at least those are not broken, Louise looks at me with terror in her eyes and says “I had something of a crisis hehehe…” Yeah, this girl is clearly not a threat, no self respecting magus would let herself show such a weakness, not in a thousand years, and so I start to do the only thing that i can now, cleaning “You should try not to break the things, it makes it hard for the cleaning staff” She looks me like a kicked puppy but I pay her no mind, she says “Well, we cannot be here, I’ll call the maids and they will clean while we ehm…” She started to look around to see if she could come up with something, that much was obvious, I said “Well, we can always go around and see the place, I am new afterall” While nodding profusely she took my hand and started saying gibberish trying to excuse herself, it was faster than what I could process but I could feel her embarrassment, and, her sadness, even fear was in there, I stopped walking and said “Calm down, I am not going to do anything bad to you, you have my word”. She was on the verge of tears but ended up smiling nonetheless.

She, she, she, did not care about my failings, I could only hear her approval, and so I smiled, it was only natural, may my mother be damned but I will let myself express happiness at least now.

Well, this is, strange, Louise crying is for the lack of other words, strange, I do not remember her crying, you could say that was one of the reasons I was comfortable making jokes at her expense, but, to see her cry now, it felt like she was crying for a thousand times, she was crying for all of the times that she did not, silently i did an oath, to never do the same thing that I did tio Louise again to ANYONE. 

It was natural that I would go away from the scene without commenting, she will not appreciate me saying something, not after me being more than probably the reason of her tears.

The human is, strange, I can clearly recognize her Brimiric blood but even then she presents herself as a Valliere, not my problem but her tears are. I go to the shoulder of my summoner, the Grimm one and start purring, my summoner seems confused but not aggressive, it takes about 15 minutes before the Brimiric one stops crying, but once she does she only says “Thanks, would we go to the dinning hall?” I notice that it is time for Dinner and jump to the floor following my summoner as she goes side by side with the Brimiric one. I notice the steps of the Birmiric one are clumsy but I pay that no mind, after all she has just summoned a Familiar and is probably gonna suffer a hangover eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about the chapter but please review and comment, even if it is only to throw shit at me.  
> Take in mind that English is my second language when you are going to insult me.


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